The South Park Mall is gearing up for Black Friday in the latest episode from the always irreverent and mostly profane creators of the long-running animated series South Park. But be warned: "Last year, 26 people died and 461 were seriously injured" during a Black Friday sale, the mall's deputy head of security warns his team at the beginning of the episode.

"Black Friday" skewers the biggest shopping day of the year by taking the annual reports of mob-like behavior at post-Thanksgiving sales to an absurd extreme, while somehow wrapping a parody of the HBO series Game of Thrones around the whole enterprise. At the center of everything is the arrival of Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One, the next-gen gaming consoles expected to be at the top of numerous wish lists this holiday season.

Naturally, Cartman, in the role of a wizard, tries to rally the other kids to take advantage of a promotion at the mall that offers 80 percent off the price of the next-gen consoles and other items to the first 30 people through the door on Black Friday.

"Winter is coming and the next-gen gaming systems are hitting the shelves," Cartman gravely informs "Paladin Butters," "Sir Timmeh of Black Lake," and the rest of the gang.

Hilarity, as usual, ensuesas does an extremely NSFW "Tickle Me Elmo" subplot, should you choose to watch the episode online. Just as alliances often splinter in Westeros, the kids quickly separate into warring factions loyal to either the PS4 or Xbox One.

Meanwhile, over at the mall, a veteran of Black Fridays past warns new security recruit Stan Marsh just how bad it can get.

"The shoppers ... started showing up at midnight on Thursday. They didn't line up, they just crammed themselves near the main entrance. I could see their faces smooshed up against the glass, licking their lips, waiting to get in. God, the sounds that they made. It was 5 a.m. when they opened the doors ... there was screaming, blood ... people tearing each other's faces off while holiday music played in the background.

"I saw a woman pick up her daughter by the ankle and swing her into some old guy's head. Before I knew it, they were all around me, biting, clawing. Then a hand reached in and pulled me out, the bold captain ... he saved us all that day.

"When it was over, the front of the mall was covered in red. Bodies, shopping bags. And now winter comes again."

It's actually a bit surprising that this is the first year South Park has turned its attention to Black Friday, our annual display of crass consumption. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone love to mock such things, especially when technology and geekdom are involved.

Past South Park episodes have skewered Apple fanboys and the late Steve Jobs, Facebook and Twitter addicts, and World of Warcraft. Now Parker and Stone can add our ever-expanding, Thanksgiving-encroaching carnival of shopping to their hit list.

About the Author

Damon Poeter got his start in journalism working for the English-language daily newspaper The Nation in Bangkok, Thailand. He covered everything from local news to sports and entertainment before settling on technology in the mid-2000s. Prior to joining PCMag, Damon worked at CRN and the Gilroy Dispatch. He has also written for the San Francisco Ch... See Full Bio

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